I have been reading a new and interesting book…to be honest I didn’t read it I listened to it on an audiobook which reminded me why reading a book is so important. I have listened to the book twice! And halfway through the second time I bought the book physical form. Why would I bother to buy the book twice you ask?!? As with anything in life to physically do something it takes more effort and work to so we give it more focus and attention. We carry a stronger intention to focus on the information that we are trying to obtain. When we listen…we do not have the same attention and focus. We are usually doing something like cleaning, sunbathing (or in my case when listening to this book) commuting back and forth between where I live, work, get groceries, and drive around to bring some outside adventure into my Covid trapped world. The point is we are usually doing something else that distracts us a little from complete focus. Our minds can wander to other thoughts which are triggered by what the speaker is saying or by the tasks were are trying to accomplish at the same time. And when we regain our focus we have no idea how long we have been on our wandered path of thought!!! This does happen when we read as well…but it is much easier to find the place where we left off to continue on with the book. It’s harder to rewind the audio and find the place where we left off…so we tend not too…and tend to miss that section of the book until we come back to listen to it again, if we listen to it again. So there is valuable content missing from what we could be learning. Now, I am not suggesting you don’t listen to audiobooks…clearly I do! But there are just some books that having in physical form makes all the difference for our understanding and growth. The books that I am going to talk about in this blog are going to be books that I highly recommend, at some point, having in physical form…you will never know what you are missing if you stick to just the audiobooks. I have a massive list of books that help to better explain the ideas I talk about with you during sessions. These books are never a onetime read. If they were I wouldn’t be suggesting them, I'm a most bang for your buck kinda gal. To be a book that grabs my attention, it must be one that can be reread and give further awareness and insight into how and why we make the choices that we make and the outcomes from those choices effect on our lives. And we make these choices voluntarily! We just don’t see it that way in the beginning. I am no different. Each time we read a book we are a whole new person reading it and it is like we are reading it for the first time! We have new ideas, new insights, and new perspectives that we bring when we start a book over for the second time, and third time, and fourth time, and yes even the fifth time!!! I have a core set of books that I read yearly! Because each year I am a new person with new knowledge that can only grow further by reading a book again. You never know what you will take out of a book the second time around (or in my case yearly). We are all on a journey. And it is not a path that is always ahead of you in a straight line. There are bends and spirals and slopes and crossovers. Our paths are all over the place…they are not like the linear time we think exist (which if you have talked with me in person you will have heard a little of how time and space are not what we think they are either). Which brings me back to the point where this blog started…I have been reading a new book!!! “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle. This is not a new book…nor is this a new idea…but from the moment I started listening to it all I could think was “This is how I describe the ego and thoughts with everyone who comes to see me! And there goes another idea I have for a book as it is all written down already for the world to access! Fantastic!!!” I really do say these things while I read books…I love how a book can take teachings from a session and wrap it up into a “easy read” for us all to come back to when we lose sight of where we are going or get distracted by the details of life. The book talks about the importance of bringing your awareness to the present moment and living in the present moment. How our ego’s get us trapped in living in the past and in fear of the future. I talk a great deal about the ego. And not in the sense that the ego is a mediator between the conscious and unconscious mind or that it is our where we create our personal identity. For most of what troubles each one of us the ego is the cause of…yes there are things that are perceived to be outside of our control like covid, or some random acts of violence, or a trauma…the problems that we have in life are not really problems…they are situation and the ego turns them into problems. In some cases, it will blow up those problems and catastrophize them so greatly that we become paralyzed! But, if you talk with your ego and explain to your ego its fears (what a lot of people are going to tell is you is that this is called rationalizing and logic thinking…which it is and it isn’t) you can calm your ego from its place of fear to a place of peace and understanding. Now, this is not easy to do all at once. It takes time and practice to be able to do it and with any new situation you have not experienced before you will have to do it again as your ego does not have the safety and security that you do. I like to say that our egos can be anything it wants to be…and sometimes it’s a toddler having a temper tantrum (which then wow…watch us go with our outbursts of justified frustration and tongue lashings of other people), or a bullying teenager judging others from the pain that we feel (we either cause pain to others or ourselves), or even at times a wise elder spewing truth and wisdom to others in their time of need. Have you ever heard a therapist or counsellor talk about the child within and how you need to work on your inner child? They are more often than not talking about your ego. An ego can run amuk telling you half-truths, stories, judgements, justifications, fears, and lies in order to maintain its sense of control. Which works for your ego most of the time!!! Our egos are so practiced at this! They have been doing it for years and it knows all the secret spots to hit just perfectly to get our attention! And through the practice of being in the present moment, you can regain some control over the half-truth, stories, judgments, justifications, fear, and lies. This book breaks down some of the common questions I hear when talking about being and practicing being in the present moment. So it will be almost like you are getting more time with me in a session, but…in the comfort of your own home whenever you feel like having it!!! So this wasn’t a book review…which when I started writing the blog I thought I would write more about the book than I did…but that’s the beauty of what we are creating here together…the conversation will go in the direction it needs to go. If you have any question, please bring them forward. Any thoughts that you want to talk about or obtain clarity on, let me know. And feel free to read/listen to the book! While it is the first book that I am writing about…this is not the first book that I would start with if you are just joining us in this journey. Going forward, I will be talking about books in the order that I would recommend reading them…each one builds on another and will build on your understand and growth…however, I just couldn’t wait to share this new book as we have been talking a lot about the ego lately together!!!! As always, Yours in Healing, Chrysie